


HOW THE TRUTH gets in the way

by thewolvesrunwild



Series: Mutant Maximoffs [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Pietro does not get to die I wont allow it, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-28 21:30:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3870457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewolvesrunwild/pseuds/thewolvesrunwild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Pietro wakes up, Wanda is right there with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	HOW THE TRUTH gets in the way

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Linkin Park's In Between.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgVzhgygYfs

Pietro opened his eyes slowly, hardly believing that he was able to open them at all. He had died protecting Hawkeye and that boy - hadn't he?  
There was light all round him and a tight grip on his right hand. He turned his head and saw Wanda smiling at him, her eyes were red and tired but she looked unhurt.

“Fifteen minutes," she said.

"What?"

"You were dead for fifteen minutes. I think that makes me older than you now."

Pietro let out a laugh and regretted it as soon as he became a coughing mess. His sister placed a comforting hand on his chest and his breathing eased.

"How long since the battle? You changed your clothes."

"A week. The doctor put you in a coma and let your abilities take over. You should have woken days ago."

Pietro groaned in his head. She may have been smiling a moment ago, but Wanda was pissed. Life was not good for anyone when Wanda was pissed.

“The city?”

“The people are safe.”

“Ultron?”

“I crushed the one that killed you, and Vision made sure all of the extras were destroyed."

Her grip on his hand increased.

“Wanda-”

“No, Pietro. Do not apologize. I felt you die. Everything you felt, the bullets, the ground, the last beat of your heart, I felt it too. I could feel you die but I continued to breathe. You said you would not leave without me, but you did. I will not forgive you for that."

"He was just a little boy."

“And the only thing you could do was move in front of them? You couldn’t have moved them?”

“Not without injury. A bullet could have reached one of them.”

Wanda fixed him with a hard stare.

“Wanda, I-”

"I will not die with you again."

The look in her eyes told him that her words meant more than her anger at him for sacrificing himself.

"You're removing the bond?!"

Pietro felt like he was dying all over again. Ever since he could remember he had a bond with his sister, sensing her emotions just as she could sense his. When her powers fully developed, she made the bond stronger, to the point of sharing thoughts with the emotions. His sister was always by his side even when they were physically apart. 

"I cannot restore it," Wanda admitted, pain burning in her voice as she lowered her head.

It was in that moment that Pietro realized he couldn't sense her anymore. He thought the empty feeling came from his near death but now he knew that it was because her emotions were no longer swirling behind his own.

He squeezed her hand.

"I'm sorry."

She must feel just as empty as him, maybe more. No wonder she was pissed. He had always been the calm to her storm, taking her darker emotions and transforming them into his brand of darkness that was more easily dealt with.

"I can't control it without you," she said quietly, still not looking up.

"You can," he insisted. "You are strong, sister. You will learn to control the darkness."

It was then that she looked up at him. Pietro didn't need to have his empathetic bond with Wanda to see the terror in her eyes.

"What if I can't?"

He looked straight into that terror without any fear of his own. He looked with nothing but conviction.

"Then I will protect you from yourself like I have always done. Bond or no bond, Wanda, I will not let this darkness consume you."

She threw her arms around his neck and held him tight.

"Please don't leave again."

The words were whispered through quiet sobs. Pietro stroked her hair with one hand and hugged her tightly with the other.

"I won't."

It was a promise that both of them would pretend he could keep.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this right after seeing the movie because there is no way Pietro can just die on me like that.


End file.
